


the boy finally jumps (temp. hiatus to rewrite)

by JkWriter



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Angst, Apocalypse, Hurt/Comfort, Self-Doubt, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-23
Updated: 2019-04-24
Packaged: 2019-11-28 19:07:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18212390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JkWriter/pseuds/JkWriter
Summary: it takes a year before five can jump again(aka five only spends a year in the apocalypse)





	1. Chapter 1

Five fell to his knees, gasping for breath as the remnants of energy swirled around him. 

 

This was it, his final chance and he blew it. He couldn’t jump. He wasn’t strong enough. If he wasn’t able to a year ago, why would it change now?  _ Useless,  _ that’s what he was. His family was going to die and there was nothing he could do. He was going to die starving and alone in an apocalyptic wasteland. If he wasn’t so tired he might have laughed at his situation, Dad would have certainly laughed. “You’re not ready for time travel,” he told Five and did Five listen? No, he didn’t. He tried it anyways and now he’s fucking  _ stuck.  _

 

_ No. Shut up. You’re not stuck. You’ve been doing this your whole life and it’s never been perfect. Figure out what’s wrong and fix the equation.  _

 

But fixing the equation was easier said than done. His last pencil had broken a week ago. The half-finished problem was written inside the book, Vanya’s book, which in itself was a whole other issue he was going to have to work on if he got back. Five didn’t know how much of his family’s problems stemmed from his disappearance but a good chunk of them must have. Five was always the buffer between Vanya and the other siblings, he would always put himself between Luther and Diego to break up their petty arguments and he made sure Klaus was never excluded from any of the family activities. Something must have happened as a result of his disappearance meaning if he never disappears then there’s no reason for any of the problem’s Vanya writes about. Vanya won’t grow up ostracized, Ben won’t die as the result of a mission gone wrong, and none of them will run away alone. 

 

Five stared down at the scribbles on the page. The numbers and words began to blur together. He rubbed at his eyes, hands coming away wet with tears. “Fuck,” Five muttered. He couldn’t look at it anymore, the scratched out numbers he wanted to fix and the blanks he never figured out. In a fit of emotion he threw the book across the academy’s rubble. It landed somewhere near where he thought the front door was but it had been nearly a year and he couldn’t remember, not anymore. He curled in on himself, leaning against a slab of wall that hadn’t been destroyed. 

 

“I know you’re out there listening somewhere, being ghosts or some shit like that I never really understood what Klaus could do, and I wanted to say I’m sorry,” he whispered to nothing. “I thought I could get home, that I could fix this and save you guys, but I can’t. I shouldn’t have left, if I didn’t then maybe...Well, I don’t know. Maybe this would have happen anyways but we would have at least been together.” He shut eyes and let his head fall back against the wall. Bits of it crumbled under the pressure. Five never could figure out what happened here, but it must have been ground zero. The rest of the world was fucked but the academy had taken the brunt of the damage. 

 

Electricity whipped around him. He cracked one eye open, looking for the source. In the last week there had been strange lightning storms popping up around the city. Five had tried tapping into one of them to aid in his ability but it had done nothing for him. Tapping behind him. He craned his head, looking over the edge of the wall for any signs of life but there was nothing. Five faced forward.

 

The book was sitting in front of him, open to a picture of his family. 

 

He blinked. 

 

It hadn’t been there before, had it? Five threw it, he was sure he did, but did he already go to retrieve it? He couldn’t remember getting it but he couldn’t remember much these days. 

 

He looked at the picture, it was one of the few of all seven children. Reginald didn’t allow Vanya to be in their press photographs but this wasn’t one of them. This was a photo meant for their eyes only. It didn’t hang in the academy and the only printed versions were small enough to fit in a wallet. Vanya had a lot of nerve to publish it and Five wished he had seen Reginald’s reaction. 

 

Five blinked away tears and unfolded himself. He wasn’t able to jump but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t try, not for himself but for the smiling faces he was leaving behind. Five rolled the book and shoved it into his pocket. He then pushed himself to feet and concentrated. 

 

The familiar feeling of electricity wrapped itself around him. Flashes of light danced along the edges of his vision. He thought about the night he left. The fear in Vanya’s eyes when he ran from the table, the envy in Klaus’, and the distrust in Luther’s. He focused on them. He focused on his family and moved.

 

The energy flickered out leaving Five standing there. 

 

“Fuck, no!” He kicked a wall and then he kicked it again and again and again until he was numb. “Fucking hell. Fuck,” he cried out, falling to his knees. Was it even worth fighting anymore? 

 

_  “Crying is a sign of weakness, Number Five. If you cannot get over these childish mannerisms, then perhaps your siblings can.” _

 

_ “You’re not going to touch any of them.” Five had said, standing as tall and looking as threatening as he could as a nine-year-old. Five had been the first one to realize they weren’t a normal family. He could sneak out more easily. He had seen normal families going to the park, sending their children to school, and celebrating their birthdays rather than reminding them they were meant for something greater. Normal families had names, not numbers. _

 

_ “Then stop this foolishness at once.” _

 

Foolishness. Of course, that’s what his father would think of normal, human emotions. Reginald Hargreeves was all about saving the world and their greater purpose but never once thought about what his bullshit ideas were doing to his children. He pitted them against one another, forced them to fight for his attention and even then it was nothing more than a “well done”. 

 

_ “Having emotions isn’t foolish. It proves we’re human.” _

 

_ “The six of you are not human, you’re greater than human. And if you cannot realize that then perhaps you're not ready to be a part of this team.” _

 

Five swallowed. It all came back to Reginald, to good old Dad. He knew best, he would say before forcing them spar.  _ You’re preparing for something bigger than you could ever comprehend.  _ A lot of good that preparation did, they were lucky they were even together at the end. 

 

_ Wait.  _

 

According to Vanya’s book the Umbrella Academy had been apart for years before the end. Allison was a big shot in Hollywood, Diego was a vigilante in their city, and Luther was working on a secret project. Why were they together? 

 

Reginald Hargreeves died ten days before the apocalypse. That’s what the paper had said. The only reason his family would have come together again would be because of a funeral. That’s why they were at the academy when the apocalypse tore them apart. Reginald knew something was coming, something that he spent their lives training them for, and when the time came he brought them together. 

 

“Oh my god,” he whispered. “Dolores, I think...I think I’ve figured it out.” The mannequin sat in the rubble. “I’ve been trying to get back to where I came from, right? And it wasn’t working. Why? I don’t know, maybe I’m not meant to be there any longer but if I find the place I’m meant to be, the place where I always will be, and there we can do something about this.” 

 

He grabbed the decaying wall and pulled himself up. For Vanya. For Allison and Luther. For Diego and Klaus. 

 

“One year,” he told himself. He focused on his family, on the terrible funeral they would have no doubt thrown for Reginald. He put himself there, forced himself into the memory. The familiar buzz of energy surrounded him. “I’ll find you, Dolores. Maybe we can crash this funeral together.” Five closed his eyes.

 

Then, for the first time in a year, he jumped.

  
  



	2. Chapter 2

Five floats between two planes of reality. His body is torn apart and held together all at once. With every breath, he faces agonizing pain as air moves through the millions of holes in his lungs, each one a different choice he could have made, a path he could have taken. The voices of his family surrounded him. Luther’s stern, but caring tone carried him through the stream. Diego’s stutter, laced with both confidence and fear wrapped around him like a warm blanket. Allison’s sweet and sultry voice whispered promises she could never keep but he cling to all the same. Klaus’ brash and joking manner led him to Ben’s soft-spoken voice. The two of them melded together, always Ben and Klaus, never one without the other. Vanya was quiet, on the outside of the others. She was always on the outside, barely there and hidden behind the amalgamation of sounds, but Five heard her. He always heard her. Vanya, his sweet sister with no powers. The only one of them who so desperately wanted an ability so that she might join them. The one Five never told he was glad was ordinary because she shouldn’t have to see the horrors they did. The others, they couldn’t see it, too brainwashed by the mission in their father’s head but Five was different. He knew there was something wrong with what they were doing. He was going to protect them, protect her. He had to.

 

“Five,” Vanya said. The darkness of the world hadn’t hit her yet. She was clean and pure, hidden away from the horrors that lurked in the night. “Five,” she repeater, lifting her arm and holding out her hand. Five reached out towards her voice, grasping at the air. He tried to grab hold of her but his fingers slipped along the tips of her. She was always out of reach, just beyond what he could touch. “You need to come home. You have to come home, please Five.”

 

And then he fell. Everyone who was around him, his brothers and sisters with their protective voices, disappeared in an instant and Five was left alone in silence. 

 

“No,” He cried out. His arms flailed as he tried to find his way back. “No, it can’t end like this!” He started to shake, vibrate, as he powers ripped him apart. He screamed. Thunder surrounded him. He drifted further and further away from his family. 

 

“No,” he said. He wasn’t going to give up, not now, not when they were so close. He stopped flailing, stopped following, and hovered in the air. Thunder and electricity surrounded him. Lightning danced along the edges of his vision until it was too much and he had to close his eyes. 

 

“What is it?” 

 

_ Vanya.  _

 

She was there, waiting on the other side of this portal. He couldn’t let himself get distracted. 

 

“Don’t get too close.” 

 

_ Allison.  _

 

She was acting every bit the mother Five knew she could be. After every mission Allison would go door to door checking on them, Vanya trailing behind as to ensure their safety without encroaching on their space. The two of them would bandage any wounds missed by Mom and talk about anything to get everyone’s mind off of the mission. Five missed those days. 

 

“Yeah, no shit.”

 

“Looks like some sort of temporal anomaly. Each that or a miniature black hole. One of the two.” 

 

_ Diego and Luther _ .

 

They were sarcastic and analytical, Diego preferring to face his problems head on while Luther analyzed what his was up against. 

 

“Pretty big difference there, Paul Bunyan.” 

 

“What are you-“ Something flew past him. 

 

“What is that gonna do?” Allison yelled. He could see the silhouettes of five people, two stood protectively in front, one just ahead of them, and the other two crowded in the back.

 

“I don’t know! Do you have a better idea?” 

 

_ Klaus.  _

 

Klaus leaned towards Diego’s solution to problems, reacting emotionally in the moment. It might seem like a flaw but what they didn’t realize was how Klaus had perfected analyzing every situation so that he might react emotionally in the moment without error. The fire extinguisher, floating beside Five, was proof of that. They did not know what the anomaly was and were utterly unprepared for it so Klaus acted before something might happen. Not only that but the fire extinguisher was proof of one thing, Five had created a portal to his family. 

 

“Woah woah whoa. Everyone get behind me.”

 

“Yeah, get behind us.” 

 

Five silhouettes creeped into his sight. The darkened figures were surrounded by blue. Five pressed forward. 

 

“I vote for running, c’mon,” Klaus said. His silhouette fell in line behind Diego and Luther, between Vanya and Allison. Five just had to reach a little further. He stretched his arm out, reaching towards them. When his fingers brushed along the edges of the anomaly he grabbed hold and then he was falling. Not away from them but towards. Right onto the ground in front of his siblings. He groaned at the impact. His wrist was bent below him. He used his right hand to push himself up onto his knees. 

 

“Does anyone else see little number Five, or is that just me?” Klaus said. 

 

Five looked up. 

 

They were all there, staring in shock as Five stared right back. His lip quivered. 

 

“Guys, tell me I’m not crazy?” 

 

That was all it took. Five launched himself at Klaus. He buried his face into Klaus’ chest, sobbing against the bare skin.  _ Weakness... _ Except it was alright. He was allowed to be weak in front of his family because they protected each other. Klaus was frozen, arms lifted away from the sobbing child clinging to him. The others weren’t much different. All of them kept their space, staring in shock as Five broke down. He wanted to care, wanted to try and argue for himself, that he was allowed this, but he didn’t care, not right now. His family was here, he actually made it home, he was finally doing something right. 

 

“I’m home. Oh my god, I’m so sorry, Dad was right, I couldn’t do it and then I was stuck and I couldn’t leave and I was so scared.” He spoke quickly between gasps of air. Klaus finally dropped his arms, wrapping one around Five and holding him close, protectively. 

 

“Five?”

 

He sniffled  and pulled back just enough to turn his head. Allison and Vanya had moved closer while Diego and Luther kept their distance. Five have them a shaky smile. “Hey guys, been a while I guess.” 

 

“Holy fuck, you’re alive?” Diego said, finally taking a hesitant step towards them. 

 

Vanya reached out, lying her hand against Five’s shoulder. “You came back…” she whispered. 

 

“Yeah, I did. I’m uh, sorry it took so long. Time travel is a pretty flimsy concept, one mistake and you’re stuck.” 

 

“Wait, time travel? Like you’re last argument with Dad?” Five nodded against Klaus. “Oh my god...Luther, go get some pillows and blankets, Vanya, some food and water. Diego, can you grab Mom? His wrist doesn't look too good. Klaus, I need you to bring Five to the living room.”

 

Five furrowed his brow as everyone rushed to do what they were told. “What’s happening?” 

 

“No offense, Five, but you look you could be knocking on death’s door any minute now. What we’re doing is some basic first aid and treatment.” 

 

“Oh, you really don’t need to.” Five said but Klaus was already picking him up. “Klaus, what the hell? Put me down!”

 

“No can do, my tiny comrade. You look like hell.”

 

Five tried to fight, he weakly kicked at Klaus but was easily pinned. “If you drop me I will kill you,” he said as he settled into Klaus’ arms.  He was so exhausted. Life in the apocalypse meant he never got a decent night’s rest and it was so easy to rest in Klaus’ arms. 

 

“Lie him on the couch, I’ll meet you guys there in a minute,” Allison said. She held the door open for them and then departed. 

 

“Don’t you worry, little dude, Mom’s gonna fix that wrist right up.” 

 

 “Mom…” Five whispered to himself. He never found her body, only scraps of fabric that was once her dress. Five often wondered what happened to her. Was she abandoned by Reginald or destroyed in the disaster? “Mom’s okay?”

 

Klaus confirmed she was fine as the two of them settled onto the couch. Five refused to let go because he knew Klaus wouldn’t argue. Klaus didn’t argue, but Five didn’t miss the confused looks he was getting. His family was all confused in some way, they didn’t know where he went or what happened. Well, what was going to happen. Time traveling was confusing. He didn’t even know how much time he had. Was it days or hours? That hadn’t been a funeral he crashed, something happened when he tried to make the jump. 

 

“Klaus, what day is it?”

 

“I believe it’s a Tuesday.”

 

“It’s Sunday,” Vanya said walking into the room. She carried a glass of water and a plate with…Was that a peanut butter and marshmallow sandwich? Five didn’t think he could love his sister any more than he did at that moment. “The twenty-fourth.”

 

“What month?”

 

“March.” Vanya held out the water. He tried to grab the plate but she pointed to the water. Five frowned at her and reached for the plate again. With how Vanya switched the two Five would have assumed she was a mother instead of Allison. “Why do you need to know the date?”

 

Five nearly choked on the water. Vanya knelt down to his level, he waved her off. “M’fine, just haven’t had clean water in a while.” 

 

“Five,” she said softly. “What happened to you?”

 

“Something that would better be discussed with the whole family.”

 

She looked at him with something akin to pity. Five didn’t need that, he spent a year in the apocalypse surviving on his own. He avoided her eye until she sighed and held out the sandwich. Five snatched it, too harshly, but food had been hard to come and while a part of him knew Vanya and Klaus would never take it away from him another part screamed that he couldn’t risk it. 

 

Diego ran into the room. “I br…brought mom and Pogo.” He said, dropping the med kit on the coffee table. 

 

Pogo paused in the doorway, staring at Five and Klaus, while Grace walked right in as though he hadn’t been missing for sixteen years. “Oh dear, Five, you poor thing. Diego, honey bring me the alcohol wipes. Now Five, I’m going to move your wrist tell me if it hurts.”

 

Five started to cry again. He had missed her and always wondered what happened. She hadn’t been with the rest in the wreckage of their home and Five was left to theorize what could have happened. Did Vanya intentionally leave her end out of the book? Did Dad do something after everyone had left? Was she completely destroyed by whatever took their home? 

 

She pulled his arm away from Klaus, carefully taken hold of his injured wrist. Five inhaled sharply as she felt down his skin. “It feels broken. Diego, dear, could you get the plaster from the infirmary?” Diego took off. “I’m going to clean your cuts and bandage them. It might hurt. Please squeeze Klaus’ hand if you need to.” Klaus took his hand. Five had every intention not to squeeze but as Grace started in on the cuts with the alcohol pads he couldn’t help it. Diego returned, Allison and Luther trailing behind him. 

 

Allison stepped forward. “Luther, help me set up the pillows around the two of them.”

 

“‘M fine, Allison.” His sister ignored him and took the pillows from Luther and began to arrange them around Five and Klaus. By the time Mom had finished, cuts cleaned and bandages and arm wrapped in a plaster cast, Five was surrounded by pillows and blankets in something close to a nest. He wasn’t happy about it but he didn’t complain. It was the most comfortable he’s been since traveling to the future. 

 

The other Hargreeves fell in around them. Allison and Luther sat together on the opposite couch while Vanya set herself down next to Five gently so not to irritate his injuries. Diego kept his distance, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall instead. 

 

Five relished in the silence and feeling of his family surrounding him. He felt safe, something that he hadn’t felt in a long time, even before he fucked off to the end of the world. 

 

Diego was the one to break the silence. “Alright,” he said, pushing off the wall and stepping forward. “since no one else is going to ask I’ll be the one to do it. What the hell happened to you?”

 

“Diego!” Allison chided. Five waved off the concern. 

 

“It’s fine,” he said as he sat up away from the pillow nest. Klaus reached over to steady him. “You guys deserve to know what happened, or rather, what’s going to happen.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“The apocalypse, Vanya. In eight days the world is going to end.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> join my [discord](https://discord.gg/Pwah8sR)! pls i need friends


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> five starts his quest alone and meets the handler

Everyone was yelling. Five would have found it amusing if this wasn’t such a serious subject matter. 

“I understand this is difficult to comprehend but please stop yelling. It’s not doing anything asides from giving me a headache.” 

“I’m sorry,” Diego began. “But you show up for the first time in seventeen years looking the exact same and tell us the world is going to end in a week and expect us to be calm about it? Is losing brain cells a side effect of time travel too?” 

“I can assure you I am still the smartest person in the room.” Five said, throwing off the blankets Allison had put around him. “Which is why I don’t have time to be discussing this with you. I’ve got an apocalypse to avert.” He tried to stand but was held down by Klaus. “Let me go, Klaus.”

“Nope. This is family meeting time. If I can't leave until it over's then you can't leave." 

“Fine. Meeting's over. Now let me go.” 

“You don’t get to decide when it’s over,” Luther said, getting up from the couch. 

“Oh, and you do?” Diego challenged. He crossed the room, blocking Five from seeing Luther. Or trying to, Diego couldn’t exactly match his brother’s size. 

“Look, Five is back. This is something that needs to be discussed.” 

“Still doesn’t mean you have the right to decide for us, big guy. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but no one cares you’re Number One anymore.” 

“Diego, that’s enough.” Allison tried to interject. It went ignored by both Diego and Luther who continued to stare off. Five groaned at his families antics. He really didn’t have time for this. 

“Allison is right, we shouldn’t be fighting.” 

“You don’t get a vote, Vanya. You lost that privilege with your fucking book.” 

Five wondered if now would be a bad time to say he enjoyed Vanya’s book. He understood why everyone was upset, had he been around he would have likely not appreciated her spilling the family secrets either, but then again if he had been around she would have never felt isolated. There wouldn’t have been a need for a tell-all book about the fuckery their father put them through. 

“Wow, this is a fucking mess.” Klaus laughed from beside Five. His brother was looking at something on the edge of the room. Five wondered who he was seeing. Maybe it was their father, he did just die after all. “No, I can’t say that. Diego would probably die of embarrassment.” Definitely not their father, then. Reginald Hargreeves did not joke around or if he did it wasn’t with his children. 

“We just found out the world is ending in eight days,” Diego took another step towards Luther. “And all you wanna talk about is dad and his damn monocle. Here’s a thought, Luther, maybe he just died.” 

“No. Something happened to him and we need to find out what.” 

“Isn’t the world ending a little more important than whatever obsession you have with dad?” 

Five sighed and leaned back into the couch. He wasn’t going to be able to walk out with everyone fighting like this. But maybe he didn’t have to walk? He clenched his fist, testing his energy. It flicked around him, subtle but there. If he put a bit more of himself behind it then it should work. Was it safe to be using it so soon after skipping in time? Probably not but when did Five ever care about what was safe? 

“He always had it. I’m just saying that they didn’t find it with him. Something must have happened to him.” Was the last thing Five heard before jumping out of the room. He didn’t go very far, just to the upstairs of the house. He could hear his siblings confused yells and Allison’s “I told you to stop fighting.”. Five figured he had a few minutes before they found him. That’s all he needed.

“Right. Where to start…” He tested his jump again. He jumped into his room, and then Vanya’s, Ben’s, and back to his own again. All of them looked the same, as though seventeen years hadn’t passed. Five thought for sure his room would have been turned into some new training room but instead, he found nothing had been touched. He wondered if anyone had even opened the door after his disappearance. “Okay, powers seem to be working. What’s next?” He looked around his room. His eyes settled on his desk. He reached over, grabbed and uncapped.

“Alright, the world’s going to end in eight days.” He draws a line across his wall and draws and “8” at the end. “Something is going to happen here.” He labels the middle of his timeline “mystery explosion?”. “Dad died four days ago. He’s out of the question. That brings everyone home. Everyone dies. Vanya’s missing which means something happens to her before. And there’s an eye.” Five finishes his timeline. It’s not perfect but it’s better than nothing. He scans the timeline. Where to start? The beginning is dad’s death but he wasn’t willing to make another jump back in time so soon after finally leaving the apocalypse. The next event is today, everyone being home for the funeral. He doubts anything that happens today will affect the apocalypse, but perhaps Vanya’s disappearance. His family hasn’t exactly been hiding their distrust of their sister. Five would have to follow her, ensure that she is safe during this whole ordeal. Perhaps the best place to start would be the eye. It was clutched in his brother’s hand. Whoever it belongs too played a part in ending the world. 

“What do you think, Dolores?” Then he remembered that Dolores wasn’t here. That was no good. Dolores was his better half, his voice of reason. He would have to go pick her up. That should be his first stop after a shower and change of clothes. “Yes. Dolores first, eye second.” He ignored the small voice in his head that was telling him he wasn’t alone and had actual people to talk to because while that may be true they weren’t Dolores.

Five jumped to the bathroom. It looked the same minus the weird soaps Allison and Vanya would buy. He searched through the cabinet until he found the generic brand they were given as children. Five never liked it, but it reminded him of home. The first few weeks in the apocalypse it was all he had and once that ran out he gave up on trying to stay clean. 

He enjoyed the shower but didn't savor his time in the warm water. He needed to move quickly if he was going to avoid his family. He scrubbed his hair, washed his body, and then grabbed the hanging towel and jumped back into his room. All of his clothes were still hanging in the closet. No one must have cared enough to throw them away, or they thought he would be back one day. Well, he was back and the clothes still fit. 

Five thought about the department store. It was just a few blocks away, he had asked Klaus before Vanya returned. It would be the perfect test for his jumps. He focused on it, let the energy surround him, and then walked from behind a clothing rack. 

“So it seems I can jump distances after all. Hmm…Interesting. Is it just a time thing? I shouldn’t have to worry, I have no plans of time travel again until the apocalypse has been avoided,” he said to himself. A few patrons of the store gave him weird looks but no one seemed to recognize him which was good. As far as they were aware The Boy was dead. He could use that to his advantage. Whoever was the harbinger wouldn’t expect him. Siblings, maybe, since they had been so easily defeated in the original timeline. Five shivered, the sight of their bodies still plagued his mind. He didn't have time to think about that. They were alive right now, and Five was going to make sure it stayed that way. 

He made quick work of finding Dolores. A stop in the city and a few questions later and he was in front of her. She was standing tall in the middle of the store wearing her favorite polka dot blouse. The fatal flaw in his plan was revealed when a worker came up to him. 

“Hi, there! Need any help finding anything?” 

Five looked over at the girl. She was too smiley, the fake kind of smiles. His eyes flicked down to her name tag. “No thank you, Nec. I’m quite alright.” 

“Just lemme know if you need anything.” She walked away but her presence had reminded Five that it was the middle of the day. He couldn’t exactly take Dolores now. He would have to wait until later when there were fewer eyes around. 

“Sorry, Dolores.” Five said. “You’re right. I should be focusing on the eye anyways. I’ll be back for you, tonight. Don’t go anywhere.” He made his way to the back of the store. Once he was sure he was out of sight he jumped from the building. He was more confident in his moments knowing that his power was working. He wasn’t afraid of being stranded alone. If something did happen he could call the house but it was nice knowing that the likelihood had dropped. The apocalypse must have affected his abilities but now that he was home the damage was reserved, or something like that he didn't understand time travel yet. 

He didn't go far, just out back into an alley. While he was more confident in his abilities working, there was still a part of him that was scared of being stranded somewhere. What is he got lost and couldn't find a phone to call for help? What if he got stuck in the in between? He had just gotten home, he couldn't risk being lost again so soon. 

"Okay. Meritech. Big building. Science building, how far can it be?"

Very far apparently. Five had been walking for an hour and he still hadn't found Meritech. It wasn't like the walking was even all that bad. In the apocalypse he had to walk, there weren't any cars or other forms of transportation (he didn't find a scooter but it lasted a week before the front wheel popped off) and he was forced to travel by foot with just Dolores and a wagon holding their supplies. The problem with walking was it was slow. It took time he didn't have. The sun was already beginning to set and he still hadn't found Meritech. He only had eight days to solve the end of the world and day one was wasted by walking around a city he used to know like the back of his hand. 

"Well, fuck. This was useless." Five stopped in the middle of the road. He pulled out a mini version of the timeline he had copied onto the back of a page from one of his old books. Along the bottom, he had written out the numbers from one through eight, a reminder of how little time he had. He scowled and marked out one. "Perhaps I do need the others after all." He folded the paper and stuck it back in his pocket. He'd have to return home, do more research, and perhaps convince one of the other's to go out with him tomorrow. Maybe Vanya...He trusted her. She was ordinary. She was safe. 

He nodded, approving of his own plan. It wasn’t perfect but it would do until he could figure out something better, he just had to hope that everyone was still at home. He had a feeling Luther and Allison were having no other place in the city to call home. Klaus might be, Five had seen the track marks on the inside of his arm and doubted his brother had a stable place to stay. He had a feeling Diego and Vanya weren't. The two, according to Vanya's book, had left the day they turned eighteen, both going their separate ways. Diego was bound to have a place somewhere, and so was Vanya being the only one out of all of them to have gotten a job. Diego probably knew where Vanya lived. He always had weird knowledge like that. 

Five tried to jump. He focused on home, on his room where he and Vanya used to stay up telling jokes and sharing stories until Pogo would walk by and order them to bed, and the energy flickered around him. The blue flashes surrounded his body and then left just as quickly. Five tried again, focusing on his room and the happy memories of making peanut butter and marshmallow sandwiches with Vanya and Klaus at midnight, taking one back to Ben who was always too afraid of sneaking out. 

"Shit," he muttered when the energy fell away a second time. This was exactly what he had been worried about, using up too much of his energy at once. Except, he wasn't tired. He wasn't trying to time travel. This was simple jumping, it was like something was blocking him. 

"You know, you really shouldn't be standing in the middle of the road." 

Five spun around. Standing on the sidewalk was a woman in all black, her dress reminded him of something Klaus might wear. She smiled and waved. 

"Who are you?"

"I'm no one important, Number Five. The real question is, how did you get back?" 

"No one important? You know who I am but I've never seen you before in my life. Want to explain that?" 

"Technicalities, my dear." She started walking towards him, around a car that was idling in the road. Actually, all traffic had stopped. Five stared up and down the road, not a single car moving. "This is my party trick, isn't it neat?"

"This is impossible...How?"

"Nothing is impossible, Five. You've seen the future, haven't you?" She put her hand on his shoulder. Five ducked away. He didn't want her near him, touching him, not as he had with Klaus and Vanya. She was dangerous. That's the only explanation. How else did she know who he was? Have this much control over the world around them? Know about the future? 

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said. It was a trick he had picked up from Klaus when they were younger, play dumb and they'll get frustrated and let you go. People wanted answers, immediate satisfaction, something this tactic proved difficult to attain. 

"There's no point in lying to me, Five. I know all about your escapade into the future. The apocalypse wasn't supposed to be seen by anyone, but we let you stay because you had potential. It's a shame you managed to find your way home so early." 

“Was I supposed to die there?” 

“Of course not, there was only a six-percent chance of you perishing in the apocalypse," the woman said, finally dropping her hand. "Our agents would have left you alone, you weren’t a threat to us.” 

Threat? Did she not think he was a threat? Five was plenty of a threat, even at fourteen. “What do you mean?” 

“I am part of an organization that fixes time. We take events an alter them to the way they’re supposed to be.” 

“Then why didn’t you stop me from jumping the first time? It sounds like I shouldn't have been then.” 

“Because you were supposed to disappear. Your “death” shook the Umbrella Academy and they were never the same. We didn’t care what happened or where you ended up, it just so happened you found your way into the apocalypse.”

“And then I found my way home.” 

“That’s still a mystery. According to our records, you should have never been able to jump back. That was a fluke.”

“Or maybe your records are wrong.” 

“Unlikely.”

“But not impossible.” 

“I suppose there is a timeline where you make it home after just two years in the apocalypse, after all, we are currently living in it. But don’t let that fool you. We cannot let you stop what it meant to occur.” 

“You mean to tell me the apocalypse is going to happen no matter what I do?” 

“Exactly. Really, it’s best for everyone involved if you just stay out of the way. It gets messy dealing with loose ends and you are a loose end.”

“Then deal with me.” 

“I like you, Number Five, and I’m hoping you’ll see this is the right path. I’m fully prepared to offer you a spot at my organization. You just have to stop this silly quest of averting destiny." 

Five didn't like this woman. She was full of herself and seemed like she enjoyed the sound of her own voice too much. She also tried to touch him again, this time grabbing his arm. Five stepped away. He wanted to try and jump again but had a feeling this woman was the reason he struggled to do it the first time. 

"Think about it, Number Five." 

And then she was gone. Cars started barreling past, Five cursed and jumped to the sidewalk, narrowly avoiding being hit. 

"Alright, Dolores I think we might have a problem."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im thinking a Monday upload schedule for this 
> 
> come join my [discord](https://discord.gg/Pwah8sR) where we protect klaus hargreeves and jared kleinman


	4. Chapter 4

Five doesn’t return to the house until well past midnight. It hadn’t really been his fault, he had gotten lost and no amount of happy memories helped him find his way home. He did finally get Dolores. She was waiting for him with her things ready. 

“I know, I’m late,” he said when he finally got back into the department store. 

“You look like hell. What happened?” Dolores said. Five helped her up while she looked him over. She was good like that, always took care of him, even when he forgot to. 

“Met someone,” Five answered, jumping them from the store. “She knew about the apocalypse.”

“How? I thought we were the only two left?” 

“So did I, but apparently there’s some organization who watches time. She stopped it, all around us. Cars were frozen, birds suspended in air. It was have been pretty cool if it wasn’t such a bad situation.” 

“You’re going to get help, right?”

Classic Dolores. Always thinking Five needed someone to watch after him. He didn’t. Usually. “Yeah, I’ve already decided to ask Vanya before the lady showed up. Though I’m starting to think I’ll need more than just her. I don’t want to assume anything, but I’m pretty sure she was threatening me.” 

“What about Diego? You always talked about him. He seems like a good candidate.” 

“I’ll take any of them at this point. But Diego’s good. He’s fit for fighting. So is Luther, but I don’t know if they can stop arguing long enough to actually get anything done. Allison can make people talk, but I don’t know if that’ll work in this situation. The lady seemed pretty open about talking without being rumored. And she stopped time, that was a thing by the way, so I doubt Allison would be able to get much done,” 

“Klaus?”

“Klaus’ ability isn’t meant for fighting. He can see spirits, yes, but it doesn’t go beyond that. The only reason dad took him on missions with us when we were younger is because he’s smart. He knows how to get under someone’s skin and retrieve information.”

“I don’t like our odds.” 

“Me either.” Five looked around. He didn’t recognize the street they were on. “Hey, Dolores, any idea how to get home?” 

“I know as much as you do, remember?”

“Yeah yeah, don’t have to keep reminding me. I’m gonna ask someone.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“What’s the worst that could happen? I’m a former superhero who spent a year at the end of the world.” Five left Dolores by the bus stop across from the store and walked back over to the doors. “Hey,” he said to the man sitting under the awning. “how do I get to the Umbrella Academy?" 

The man looked up at him with wide, glazed over eyes. High. He was high. Of course the person Five found would be high. At the very least he might know Klaus. Five could swallow his pride and call his brother if it meant getting home already. 

"Umbrella Academy?"

"Yes. Big mansion, dead billionaire, home to former child heroes. Ringing any bells?" 

"Umbrella Academy,” the man repeated, pushing himself up from the ground.

Five groaned. “Good lord, you are useless." He turned to cross back to Dolores. His friend was watching him with worried eyes. Five would have to talk to her about her excessive worrying.

"Wait! Why do you wanna go there?"

Five stopped. He looked over his shoulder at the man. “That is between me and Dolores. Do you know how to get there or not?” 

"You the kid of one of them heroes?" 

"Jesus Christ. Forget I asked." Five looked south. The academy might be on the southern half of the city. He had vague memories of returning home from the airport and heading south. It was a start. 

He made to cross the street but was stopped by a hand grabbing hold of his injured wrist. He was getting real tired of people touching him.

"They'd pay a pretty penny to get you back." 

“Excuse me?” Five said, trying to pull away from the man. It did nothing but shoot pain through his entire body. That couldn’t be good. It was just a sprain, it shouldn’t hurt like this.

“You’re one of them, got the outfit and everything. I could get two, maybe three hundred thousand for you.” 

“Okay, two things. One, I’m worth much more than that.” Five liked to imagine they’d pay at least a million for him. “Two, let go before I break something.” 

“Sorry, kid. But some of us aren’t are lucky as your family. Just come with me, yeah?” 

“I’m warning you.” What was Five warning? What could he do? He could feel his heart pounding against his chest. He was a former superhero scared because someone was threatening to what? Kidnap him? 

“It might be worse,” a voice in his head reminds him. It doesn’t help the growing panic. He can’t jump when someone’s holding him or risk taking them with him. He can’t run because this man is a hundred pounds heavier and two feet taller. Dolores was right. This wasn’t a good idea. The only blessing was he left her across the road and she was safe, which also meant she was having to watch Five being dragged down an alley. 

Back for not even one day and he’s already in trouble. 

"Stop struggling, kid." 

"Let. Me. Go." Five punctuated each of the words. He tried to ignore how much struggling hurt and think about the lessons they had been taught as children. There weren’t many on what to do if you were being kidnapped. Dad probably never thought they’d end up in this situation, they were supposed to be better than this. Five was supposed to be better than this. How could he stop the apocalypse if he couldn’t even stop his own kidnapping? His whole family was going to die because he couldn’t save himself. 

"I already said you're gonna make me some good money. Now shut up and stop fighting.” 

The man screamed and let him go. Five stumbled back into someone else's arms. They wrapped around him, stopping him from falling to the ground. 

"Told you he was down here." 

Klaus. That was Klaus. Klaus is holding him. Klaus found him. 

"Yeah yeah, you were right. Shut up about it." 

Diego. His brothers came for him. They found him. Five could cry. Actually, he did start crying. Should he be crying while Diego was currently punching the fuck out of the guy who was minutes earlier threatening Five? Probably not, but Five didn't really care. 

"Hey, Five, you okay?" Klaus asked. He spun Five around so they were facing each other. Klaus had his hands on Five's shoulders. It wasn't enough. Five pushed forward and wrapped his arms around his brother, hiding his face in Klaus' chest just like he had earlier that day. "Um, it's okay." Klaus wrapped his arms around Five. "No, I'm not going to do that. He wouldn't like it." Klaus said to someone Five couldn't see. 

"I'm sorry." Why was he apologizing? Five didn't know. Was it for running off again? Maybe. They probably thought he was dead. 

"Don't do that. It's not your fault, Pete is a dick." So Klaus did know who he was. "He's always trying to pull shit like this. I'm sorry you got dragged into whatever he was planning." 

Diego walked up to them. Five turned just enough to see the man, Pete, lying unmoving on the ground. Briefly, he wondered if the man was still alive. Five knew just how dangerous his brother could be.

"Let's go," Diego said, staying between Five and Klaus and Pete. Klaus led Five from the alley. Five wondered how they found him. It wasn’t like the department store was somewhere Five would have gone when they were younger. He couldn’t remember leaving anything that would hint to where he was going. Maybe who Klaus was seeing? 

“Wait,” Five said, pulling away from Klaus once they were at Diego’s car. 

“What’s wrong?”

“I need to get Dolores,” he said, running back across the street to Dolores. He checked to be sure she was alright. She didn’t have any injuries. She was concerned about him. “I’m fine, Dolores. Klaus and Diego came.” 

“What if they didn’t?” 

“But they did. So let’s not think about the what if’s.” Dolores didn’t like it, but she didn’t keep arguing. Five picked her up and carried her back across the road where Klaus and Diego were waiting. “Okay, we can go.” 

“Five, not to be rude, but what the hell is that?” 

“This is Dolores. She would appreciate it if you didn’t call her a “that”, Klaus.” 

“Right. Sorry, Dolores. Nice to meet you.” 

Five opened the back door of the car and set Dolores in first. He made sure she was buckled, shut the door, and walked around to the other side of the car. He sat next to her in the back leaving the front seat open for Klaus. 

Five didn't listen to his brother's talking on the drive home, he was too focused on the apocalypse and what this day meant. For one, he was behind. For over a year he dreamed of coming home and fixing everything. He thought it would be easy, come home, find Meritech, get the information on the eye, and stop the harbinger. He should have known better. He was a Hargeeves and that meant trouble. 

When the car pulled up to the house, Vanya and Allison came running out. He thought Vanya would have left by now, but he also thought they wouldn't find him. Everyone was full of surprises today. 

"Five! Are you alright? Why'd you run off like that?" 

"I'm fine," he said, unbuckling himself and Dolores. He pulled Dolores out on his side of the car. 

"Almost getting kidnapped isn't fine," Diego said. 

"He was what?" Vanya and Allison crowded around Five. They were touching him, looking for injuries that weren't there. 

"Almost being the keyword. Meaning it didn't happen." 

"Because Klaus and I stepped in." 

"I would have been fine without the two of you." Vanya took his hand and lifted his arm. Five let her look at his wrist. It still hurt and she might actually be able to do something about it. He handed Dolores to Allison. "Watch after her, please." Allison, for her part, didn't question why Five was carrying around a mannequin. 

"Somehow I don't believe that." 

"Don't get cocky, Diego." Five pulled away from Vanya. He'd had to ask her for help when the other's weren't looking. "We have bigger things to be worrying about." 

"Like that creepy as fuck timeline you drew on your wall?" 

"As a matter of fact, yes." 

“We need to talk about that.” 

Five ignored Diego and walked inside. Luther was sitting at the couch, some sort of device opened in front of him. He looked up when Five came in. 

“Five!” Diego said, marching up behind him. “Will you stop being arrogant for one minute and let us help you.” 

Five spun around to face him, all of them. His family, standing together and staring at him, their eyes full of concern. It wasn’t always like this. He used to be the most capable, the one they never had to worry about. He was the one who made sure things run smoothly when Luther and Diego couldn’t stay away from each other’s throats. He was the one who was supposed to stop the apocalypse. To save them because they already tried and failed. 

“You can’t help me. None of you can.” 

Five stalked past them, pulling Dolores from Allison’s arms. Once he had her secured he jumped. There weren’t any problems this time. He was able to jump right into his bedroom, lock the door and window, and pull the blinds before any of them could react. Five set Dolores down in the desk chair. 

“Five, you promised.”

“I know. But I can’t lose them. They’re just gonna get hurt if they try, they already did. But Vanya didn’t. Vanya wasn’t at ground zero. She might have survived.” Five went back to his timeline. What was he missing? 

“We were there for a year and never found her.” 

He grabbed the sharpie and wrote “mystery woman” in the corner. “That doesn’t mean anything. We could have missed her.” 

“Five, everyone was dead. It was just the two of us.” 

“Apparently not,” he pointed at the writing. “That lady was there, or knows something she shouldn’t. She has to be involved somehow.” 

“Which is exactly why you need help.” 

“I don’t need their help.”

“You keep telling yourself that, but you’re shaking, you eyebrow is bleeding, and you haven’t stopped holding your wrist since you came in.” 

Five dropped his wrist to feel along his brow. His fingers came back wet and sticky. He cursed. “Okay, I have a few injuries. That doesn’t equate to needing help.”

“Five, you promised.” Dolores repeated. Five sighed. He was never able to deny her. 

“Fine,” he said easing himself down onto the bed. “I’ll take the first person who walks by.” 

“That’s not exactly what I meant by getting help.” 

“You just said to get help, didn’t clarify it had to be good help.” 

“Have a little bit of self preservation for once in your life. It’s not just you who’s at risk, it’s everyone. The whole world.” 

“I know, I just...I’m scared. They’ve already lost once. I’ve lost them once. I can’t lose them again.” 

“Then work together. The six of you are a family and families don’t keep secrets.” 

Five flopped back onto his bed. “Mine does.” 

***

_He couldn’t breathe. Everything was ash. It surrounded him, filled and deprived his lungs of the oxygen he craved._

_“Wh…What?” He sputtered out, stumbling as the energy left him. This wasn’t right. Five had been aiming for the future._

_Unless._

_That’s impossible. This wasn’t the future. This was a wasteland. The world wasn’t going to turn to ash._

_He tried jumping back. The energy swirled around him like a protective cover before blinking out of existence. “That’s not right.” Five tried again. The energy coated his body, he was dripping in it ready to jump from the end of the world home, but once again it fell apart._

_“No.” He said, trying again. And again. And again. Each time he was more frustrated than the last. This wasn’t how his powers worked. They didn’t abandon him. The energy was his to manipulate, his to use. Why, when he needed it most, was it gone?_

_“Dammit!” He yelled. The stress of the unsuccessful jumps was starting to take its toll on his body. He could feel himself growing weaker with every passing second and every failed attempt. “C’mon! Work dammit!”_

_What was happening? Why couldn’t he jump? Why was his ability rejecting him now, once the damage was done?_

_“Fuck!” He kicked a newspaper stand. Why was it in the future? Five thought everything would be digital. He also thought it wouldn’t be total shit, but here he was._

_Recluse billionaire dead at 76, story on page 7._

_That caught his eye. How many recluse billionaires could there be in the world? According to the paper, just one._

_Famed father of the “Umbrella Academy” passed away last week at 76. He leaves behind five children, that couldn’t be right. There were seven of them. What happened? ,Luther, Diego, Allison, Klaus, and Vanya Hargreeves. Condolences to the family can be sent to R.W. Funeral Home at_

_Five dropped the paper. Ben. Ben was okay when he left. What happened to Ben? What happened to him? Does he not make it home? Is he stuck in the apocalypse, forever doomed to roam the wasteland in search of survival?_

_No. That wasn’t right. He couldn’t be stuck here. He just had to fix the problem. Find the issue and rewrite it._

_He couldn’t find the issue. He couldn’t breathe. Everything was too much. Five fell to his knees, gasping for air. Was this how Klaus felt? When the spirits overwhelmed him? Five could understand why Klaus resorted to taking random medications from the cabinet._

_“No. Shut up. This isn’t like Klaus. You’re not like Klaus. You’re fine. Just, get up. Get home. Find out what’s wrong.”_

_What home was he supposed to go to? There was nothing for miles and miles. Did the academy even have a chance at stopping whatever this was? His family was strong, some of the strongest people Five has ever had the pleasure of meeting, but this was something different...This was cataclysmic. This was the end of the world. Nothing could have survived this, but that didn’t stop Five from hoping._

_“Klaus?” He called, stepping into the ruins of the academy. It had been years, everyone must have left home by now. “Diego? Allison?” He wondered if Allison ever got that acting break she always talked about. “Luther?” If anyone was going to stay it was Luther. Always devoted to the plans of their father. He was the perfect little soldier. “Vanya?” Five was scared. No one was answering, calling back they were alright. “Guys?”_

_He stumbled on a body. A hand, reaching out from the rubble. In its grasp was a glass eye. A clue? Maybe it belonged to whoever did this, but if this person risked their life to stop the apocalypse…_

_Five got to work on the rubble. He lifted rock after rock, uncovering the man trapped beneath them. The more he uncovered the less he wanted to continue. This man looked too much like Luther to be a coincidence. Luther would be strong enough to rip an eye from someone. Luther would give his life protecting the family._

_He looked over the body. Not even five feet away, lying face down, was another man. Tanned-skin, all black clothing, and a scar along his head. Next to him was a woman, long curly hair and a movie star look._

_It was all coincidence. Just because they looked like his family didn’t mean they were. Everyone was fine. They had to be fine._

_One more body. Face down, eyes open, and the umbrella tattoo showing on their uncovered arm._

_Five screamed. And screamed. And screamed._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this wasn't supposed to end this way but oh well
> 
> come join the [disc](https://discord.gg/Pwah8sR) for the low quality content you've come to expect from me


	5. Chapter 5

Vanya’s apartment was in the middle of the city. It was nice, small but very Vanya. It was comforting to see his sister hadn’t changed that much in the time he’s been gone. After everything that’s happened, and will happen, he needed the familiarity. 

“Are we breaking and entering?” 

He could do without the questions. “No, we’re just waiting for Vanya to get home.” 

“We’re in her apartment without permission, I’m pretty sure that’s breaking and entering,” Klaus said. Considering how quickly he started going through Vanya’s things, Five felt Klaus was in no place to talk about the legality of what they were doing. 

“We need Vanya,” Five said, lying back on the couch. It was soft, comfortable, a foreign feeling he couldn’t quite get used to. In the apocalypse nothing was comfortable, even abandoned bed’s were stiff under the realization that Five was completely and utterly alone. 

“For what exactly? You never really mentioned what we were doing.” 

Klaus had been the first one to walk by his room. He wasn’t Five’s first choice, and Dolores had begged him to wait for someone else, but Five wanted to get things moving before it was too late. 

“Klaus,” he had said, beckoning his brother to come closer. “I need your help.”

“Oh? Little Number Five wants my help? How have I been blessed with this position?” 

Five scowled, but he didn’t snap in fear that Klaus would go running. “I need to get into Vanya’s apartment.” 

“An illegal activity? That’s my forte! Just don’t let Diego find out, he’s very good at catching us, lawbreakers.” 

“Are you going to help me or not?” 

“Diego did say to feed into your delusions. Or to avoid doing that. I’m not going to lie, I was pretty wasted the whole conversation,” Klaus said. Five looked closer and saw bloodshot eyes and the frantic twitch associated with users. It didn’t matter. Klaus wouldn’t ask too many questions. 

Or at least that’s what Five had thought. 

“It’s not important,” Five said. Klaus huffed and started going through the closet in Vanya’s hall. He was pulling out things and throwing them to the floor. Five didn’t care as long as he wasn’t breaking anything. 

“Do you think Vanya has anything she won’t miss?” 

“You are not going to steal from our sister.” 

“Let’s not call it stealing, let’s call it recompense for using my likeness in her book.” 

“I quite liked the book,” Five said. “It was a nice reminder during the apocalypse that I had a family still out there, I just had to find them.”

“Oh, you made it depressing.” Klaus haphazardly shoved everything back into the closet. “You should try that line on Diego, maybe he’ll finally shut up about it.” 

“He needs to get over it himself.” 

“That’s not happening anytime soon. Shush, Ben, it’s not crushing his hopes and dreams, I’m just being realistic.”

“Ben?” Five sat up, eyes resting on Klaus who had moved on to Vanya’s cabinets. “Ben’s here?” 

“Has been, but yeah.” 

“Why haven’t I heard about this yet? Ben’s a genius, his help is going to be vital in this operation.” 

“Ben would also like to know what this “operation” is supposed to be.'' 

“Stopping the apocalypse. How was that not obvious?” Five stated, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the timeline. “We’re going to use this to prevent the world from ending.” 

“Woah woah woah,” Klaus said, slamming the cabinet shut. “You want my help stopping the apocalypse? Wouldn’t someone, say literally anyone else, be more suited?” 

“Of course, that’s why we’re pulling Vanya in.” 

“Not exactly what I meant. I mean, out of the people who might actually be able to do something, me and Vanya are at the bottom of the list.” 

“In terms of brute strength and ability, perhaps, but you and Vanya are smart. Also Ben is here. He’s clever in ways the three of us aren’t. He can also sneak into places, which might be useful here.” Five pointed to “Meritech” on his timeline. “In the future, Luther was holding this,” Five reached into his other pocket and pulled out the glass eye. “Which means whatever is going to happen has to do with whoever received this eye.” 

“Have you just been carrying that around with you?” Klaus’ noses wrinkled at Five’s nod. “That’s pretty gross.” Klaus looked over at nothing, Five assumed it’s where Ben was. “I’ll ask in a minute, let me be disgusted by Five’s weird eyeball fetish first.” 

Five shoved the eye back into his pocket. “The point is, we find out who the eye belongs to, we find the harbinger.” 

“Ben wants to know where you got it.” 

“The apocalypse.” 

“Yeah, but where. You said Luther had it, but you also said we were all dead.” 

“You were. He was holding it when I found him.” 

“Oh,” Klaus said. “Oh. Oh my god. Did you find him dead? Are you traumatized? Diego’s gonna kill me, it was don’t feed into the delusion.” 

“I’m not delusional. Traumatized, maybe I assume that’s what happens when you find your whole family dead, but I had a year to get over it.” 

“I hate to be the adult here because let’s be real I’m the least adult one of us and that’s saying something since you’re literally fourteen, but it takes a lot longer than a year to get over the trauma.” 

“Whatever, it doesn’t matter-” Five was interrupted by the lock turning and the door being pushed open. Klaus ducked down to hide leaving Five to wonder how often he broke into Vanya’s apartment that he was able to conceal himself so quickly. 

Vanya walked in. She wouldn’t be able to see him where he was sitting but Five could see her as she dropped her bag by the door. As though she could sense something was off her demeanor changed, she became tense and the grip she had on her violin case tightened. 

“Hello?” she called into the apartment. It wasn’t the best tactic. If Five was an intruder who wanted to harm her he wouldn’t answer her call of “hello”. At least she didn’t walk in any further, staying by the door ready to run if need be. 

“It’s just me, Vanya.” Five replied, standing up from the couch and moving so she could see him. She visibly relaxed. 

“Oh, Five.” And then she was tense again. “Where did you go? Everyone was looking for you.” 

“I had some business to take care of.” 

“Are you okay? Allison said you were hurt when you finally came home.” 

“I’m fine.” At that Vanya finally relaxed and set down her violin case. Five took the silence as she shrugged off her jacket his excuse to continue. “Klaus and Diego helped me.” Five looked to where Klaus had taken cover. His brother was still hiding. He rolled his eyes and said, “Get up, Klaus.” 

“Dammit, Five, you’re not supposed to give away my position. This is not good teamwork.” 

“This isn’t one of dad’s missions,” Five said. “But, it is my mission. Vanya, we need your help.” 

“My help?” she asked. Five wondered if anyone ever asked for it, going by the vulnerable look she was wearing, he doubted it.

“Of course. You’re the most competent of our siblings,” Five motioned to Klaus still on the floor as his example. “If anyone is going to be able to help, it's you.” He followed Vanya to the kitchen. The two of them sat at the table Klaus was still under. Five could hear Klaus whispering, perhaps to Ben? 

“What do you need my help for?” 

“Averting the apocalypse.”

“The apocalypse…”

“Listen, I know it sounds crazy, but the world is going to end in seven days unless we stop it. I have a plan, I just need help executing it.” 

“I’m not exactly the best choice. I mean, look at our family. Everyone’s got something special about them, something that might be able to help, I’m just,” 

“Ordinary?” Five interrupted. He hated the pain that flashed through Vanya’s eyes. How often had she been told that growing up? The word had been turned into an insult against her. Five despised Reginald Hargreeves for making Vanya feel inadequate. “You could say that, but I don’t think you’re ordinary. I think you’re extraordinary. You’ve been through so much and you still come out with a smile on your face. It’s what makes you special.” 

“Still, I wouldn’t be much help in stopping the apocalypse.” 

“I don’t care about the others,” He ignored the “Hey!” that came from under the table. “I want you on my team.” 

Vanya stared down at the table, her eyebrows knit together as she thought. Five wished he could read minds. He hated waiting to see what she had to say. “I’ll have to think about it,” she finally said. It wasn’t the answer Five wanted, but it was a start. “Have you two eaten? I think I have soup or something I can make.” 

“Awe, Vanya! I would love some soup or something,” Klaus said, crawling out from under the table. “Ben would prefer waffles, but soup is close enough. Yes, it is, shut up.” 

Deflecting. That what she was doing. They couldn’t have the discussion is the subject was changed. Five was impressed with how smoothly and quickly she was able to change it. “Five?” Vanya asked. She had gotten up from the table and was going through the fridge. 

“Sure, I’ll take soup.” he said, following her to the counter. He didn’t know why it wasn’t like he would be able to help. The apocalypse wasn’t exactly prime cooking conditions and Mom had only taught him how to make toast. “What kind is it?” 

“Potato, like what Mom used to make.” 

Behind them, Klaus had gotten louder. “Ben, just tell them to fuck off.” Vanya winced at the mention of their deceased brother. Five once again wondered what had happened to Ben. Vanya glossed over it in the book, simply stating it was an accident. Five had a feeling there was more to the story. “No, I don’t want to.” Klaus’ hands had come to rest over his ears. Five could only imagine what he was trying to block out. 

“There a body in the basement or something?” Five asked. Vanya shrugged. 

“I never have a problem, but Klaus’ insists there are three ladies haunting my apartment.” 

“Because there are. They keep talking about oatmeal and how it wasn’t worth dying over. All three of them. Who even dies over oatmeal?” Klaus paused and then nodded. “Actually yeah, Ben’s right. I’d die before eating oatmeal.”

“Bit insensitive considering they died over it, but you do you.” 

“Five, Ben wants to know more about this miracle plan of yours.” 

“It’s simple really. First, we need to get into Meritech,” 

The building had surprisingly lax security considering the business they did. Five imagined someone would stop a teenager in a uniform and man in an obviously used suit. The two of them didn’t blend in, but they were able to walk up to the reception without being stopped. 

“Hi, welcome to Meritech, how can I help you?” the receptionist asked. Five set the eyeball on her desk. 

“We need to find out who this belongs to,” he said. He added a smile for good measure. 

“I’m sorry, sweetie, but that’s not information we can give out.” 

“Then find me someone who can.” 

“Right, uh, if you and your father want to wait over there I’ll call Mr. Biggs to see if he can come to talk to you. I’ll just need a name.” 

“Hargreeves,” Five said. He snatched the eye from the desk and stalked towards the waiting area before he could see the recognition on her face. Klaus grinned and waved before following at a much more leisurely pace. “Ben on the move?” Five asked once Klaus had sat next to him. 

“Yup. He said he’ll scope out the place and then rendezvous at Griddy’s as planned.” 

“Perfect. This should be the break we need.” At least Five hoped so. He didn’t know what he would do if it wasn’t. His plan stopped at Meritech because Meritech was supposed to be the answer to all his problems. Meritech manufactured the eye, the eye was in Luther’s grasp which meant it belonged to the harbinger. Find the harbinger, stop the apocalypse, and problem solved. 

“What’s the plan after this?” 

“You go home, I find the harbinger.” 

“I don’t like that plan.” Klaus frowned. “I thought we were a team?” 

It would be easier if Klaus hadn’t been his second favorite sibling, but he was protecting him by keeping him away. “If Vanya joined, we were a team. She seems to think I’m crazy.” 

“Well, to be fair you did come back after seventeen years and start spouting off things about an apocalypse. Also carried around a glass eye for a day and a half without telling anyone. Which might I add, wasn’t just disgusting, but also weird.” 

“I can jump through space and time and you can see the dead, what about our lives isn’t weird?” 

“Touche, little brother, touche.” Klaus picked up one of the magazines from the table. Five leaned over to read it over his shoulder. “You ever gonna tell me how exactly you found the eye?” Klaus asked, turning to a story about the Kardashians. Who the hell were they? Famous, apparently. “Five?” 

“Sorry, distracted.” He pulled back, he didn’t have the time or energy to care about reality stars anyways. “I already told you, Luther had it.” 

“Yeah, you also said we were all dead.” 

“Yes, you were. I found you guys, together.” 

“Yikes. All of us?”

“Not Ben, obviously. Or Vanya. For the longest time, I held out hope that she had survived and I’d find her, maybe not be alone.”

“But you didn’t.”

“No, I gave up hope. It was pointless trying to keep it. The conditions were terrible, anyone less than a superhero wouldn’t have survived.” 

“I’m sorry we died.” 

“Why are you apologizing? It’s not like you meant to die. I imagine the four of you faced off against the harbinger and were defeated.”

A light bulb went off in Klaus’ head, or that’s what it looked like. “You said we couldn’t help you.” Five nodded. “Because we tried and lost before.” 

“You’re smarter than they give you credit for.” 

“It doesn’t take a genius to put two and two together,” Klaus responded. 

“No, no it doesn’t.” 

“Hargreeves?” The receptionist called. There was a man at the desk wearing a lab coat with “Biggs” embroidered above the pocket. 

“Follow my lead,” Five said to Klaus. He stood and walked to the desk. “Hello, sir. I had an inquiry about a product of yours.” Five had always been good at playing the “innocent child”. It was something they had taken advantage of on missions. 

“I’ve been made aware, but you should know it goes against Doctor-Patient confidentiality to disclose this sort of information. I’m sorry you’ve come all this way, but there’s nothing I can do for you.” 

Oh no, this conversation was not ending here. 

“Perhaps there’s somewhere we could discuss this more privately?” Klaus said from behind him. He felt Klaus’ hand come to rest on his shoulder, a reminder that they were in a public place and couldn’t make a scene. 

“Right, if the two of you would like to step into my office I’m sure we could find a solution.”

Biggs led them through the building. “Nice,” Five whispered to Klaus. He always forgot how reliable his brother was in a situation. Klaus didn’t just annoy their targets, he charmed them in a way that rivaled Allison’s rumors. 

“I truly am sorry, but this sort of information is private. Without the client's consent, there is nothing I can do.” Biggs said once they were sitting in his office. Well, sitting was a broad term. Really, Biggs and Klaus were sitting while Five was leaning against the desk. 

“Look,” Five said before Klaus had a chance to speak up. “Do you have any idea who we are? The number of lives we’ve saved?” 

“I understand, Mr. Hargreeves but,”

“Obviously you don’t understand. The fate of the world is at stake and you’re worried about the legality of giving us our information.” 

“Really, it’s not something I can just hand out. As I said, I need the client’s consent.” 

“Well, what about my consent?” 

“Excuse me?” Biggs said. Five had the same question. 

“Who gave you permission to lay your hands on my son?” Klaus said, pointing to Five. 

“What?” Five and Biggs said simultaneously, both staring at Klaus with mixed variations of confusion. 

“You heard me.” 

“I didn’t touch your son.” 

“Oh really?” Klaus stood up. Five didn’t know what he was playing at, but it couldn’t be good. “Well, how did he get that swollen lip then?”

“He doesn’t have a swollen-” Klaus punched him in the face. Five brought a hand to his lip and felt blood. 

“I want it. Name, please. Now.” 

“You’re crazy.” 

Klaus smiled. “You got no idea.” Five watched as Klaus picked up the snowglobe sitting on Biggs desk. He knew what was coming but still jumped. “Peace on Earth, that’s so sweet.” Klaus smashed the snowglobe against his head. 

Klaus might have not been the strongest of his siblings, but he got the job done. Except the job wasn’t done because the eye didn’t exist yet. 

“Well, this is not good.” 

“I was pretty good though, right? Yeah, what about my consent, bitch.” Klaus said in a poor imitation of himself. 

“Klaus, it doesn’t matter. There is someone who’s going to lose an eye in the next seven days and bring about the end of life on Earth and we don’t even have a name.” 

“Greg’s gonna keep an eye, ha “eye”, on the number at least. That’s a start, right?” 

“It’s a start, but it’s not enough. Let’s just see what Ben found.” Five grabbed Klaus’ arm. 

“Whatcha doing there, little dude?” 

“Trying something. Try not to throw up.” There was a cab coming down the road. Five focused. He extended the energy out from himself until he knew Klaus was covered. And then he jumped. 

Klaus, considering the circumstances, handled it relatively well. He did pass out the second they landed in the cab, but so did Five. Five also recovered a lot quicker. “Griddy’s Doughnuts.” He said to the cab driver as though a teenager and man hadn’t appeared in the back of is cab unconscious. Knowing he could jump with someone was good. He had been toying with the idea for a while, long before his apocalyptic adventures. It would have been the next stage of his training. 

“What the fuck,” Klaus said first thing when he woke up a few minutes later. 

“Perfect, I need you to pay the cab driver.” 

“I repeat, what the fuck.”

“I wanted to see if I could jump with someone else. Sorry about using you as the test subject. It worked though.” 

“You jumped us into a cab? Sweet.” 

“As I said, you need to pay.” The cab driver’s ability to ignore the bickering brother’s was admirable.

“Dammit, this is my oxy money.” 

“Don’t care. We needed to meet Ben here.” 

“Fuck you, too,” Klaus said, handing a twenty to the cab driver. “Keep the change, I should be coming into my inheritance this week.” The two of them exited the cab and walked into Griddy’s together. Five let Klaus take the lead, he was the one who could see Ben after all. “Booth on the far right,” Klaus said. Five followed him. 

“Where’s Ben sitting?” Five asked. 

“Next to me.” 

Five sat on the opposite side of the booth. “The eye was a bust,” he said to the empty seat. “It hasn’t even been manufactured yet. Disadvantages to coming from the future.” 

“Ben says the building’s clean, nothing shady going on.” 

Five groaned and hit his head against the table. “The entire trip was a waste of time.” 

“Hey, don’t think about it like that. We’re just one step closer. Shush, Ben. I know we don’t actually have any information on the eye but if you think about it the person it belongs to is going to be in our city, right? That means we just need to keep an eye on emergency rooms.” 

Five looked up at Klaus. He was looking at the menu, pointing at different things like he hadn’t just said the best thing Five’s heard since getting home. 

“I’m getting coffee,” Klaus declared. “Do you want some?” 

“I’d rather go back to the apocalypse then drink coffee. Do they have hot chocolate?” 

“Looks like it, yeah.” 

“Then get me hot chocolate.” 

“Why do I have to get it?” Klaus whined. 

“Because you’re older.” 

The bell above the door rang. 

Shots of gunfire started ringing out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> its two am and I have to get up at 8 rip


	6. Chapter 6

Klaus reacted first. He dove under the table, grabbed Five by the legs, and yanked him down with him. Five didn’t like the rough treatment, but he couldn’t complain when bullets pierced the seat where he had been seconds earlier. Klaus stayed calm throughout the entire interaction. It left Five wondering how often he had been in a situation like this. 

“Ben’s gonna find out what’s happening.” Klaus pushed Five behind him. He wanted to say he wasn’t a child, he didn’t need Klaus’ protection, but then the panic started to creep in. He might not need Klaus’ protection, but when the gunfire stopped and all that was left was the footsteps of their attacker’s getting closer Five wanted it. 

“Friends of yours?” Five grabbed a fistful of the shirt Klaus was wearing. They had stolen it from their father’s closet, except it wasn’t really stealing anymore, was it? Reginald Hargreeves was dead, he couldn’t complain about his son taking his clothes to play dress up and break into a prosthetics company. And if he could, Klaus hadn’t said anything. 

“Nope.” Klaus pushes him further into the corner. “I’ve paid off my debts, I think.” 

“Wonderful.” Five thought back to everything that led him to this moment. His life was a complete waste and he was going to die in a diner before he could even stop the apocalypse. 

“Six guys, all with guns,” Klaus said. He was staring off, maybe listening to Ben? Ben could be useful in a stealth situation. Five briefly wondered why the family had never used him, then he remembered that in Vanya’s book she mentioned no one believed Klaus after Ben died because he still hadn’t been able to see Five. Bit unfair, but this family was a nightmare. “Ben thinks there’s more outside.” Five peered around Klaus. The footsteps grew louder. Five could see the legs of the man who was going to kill them unless they did something.

Okay. You got this. Correct the equation and go.

If the man saw them, he’d kill Klaus. Five had just gotten his brother back, he wasn’t about to lose him again. Five closed his eyes and jumped. Really, he should have expected Klaus scrambling out after him. Klaus always did have the heart out of the family and Five was currently sixteen years younger than him, five or take. Klaus’ mother hen instincts must have been screaming. All the more reason why Five had to act. Klaus avoided danger, he had always been less willing to do what it takes to stay alive, not that Five could really blame him. The rest of them forgot the faces of those lost in their path of twisted justice while Klaus was constantly reminded.

He didn’t have a plan. The Umbrella Academy never had a plan. It was more of a run in and hope for the best situation. It always worked in the end, this time would be no different. “Hey, assholes!” He yelled from his spot on the counter. A year in the apocalypse hadn’t taken away Five’s show-off nature. All the attention was on him. The panic was still there, still overwhelming when all the weapons were trained on him, but there was something else. The giddy feeling that always followed him before a mission. The feeling that this was going to be fun.

He fired before they could pull the trigger. He jumped next to the one that had been too close for comfort earlier. He grabbed the man’s gun and jumped. “Hitching a ride is rude, you know.” The gun dropped from the man’s hands as he lost consciousness from the stress. 

Five took it and handed it off to Klaus. “I have no idea how to use this!” Klaus protested. Five smiled and jumped to the next. Two men facing each other, fingers poised on the trigger. Five could work with this. He waited. Listened. And then he jumped again. Three down, three to go. 

A hand grabbed onto his cast. Five twisted and pulled through the pain but the hand wouldn’t let go. He could try jumping, but he had already jumped with another twice today. He felt fine now, but dare he risk it? “Look, I don’t want to hurt you kid. You think I wanna go home with that on my conscious? Come with us and no one else has to die.” It was such a typical supervillain speech, Five had heard it many times throughout his life and it sounded just as bad coming from this guys mouth. 

“Yeah, I’ll pass.” He kicked behind the knee. The man stumbled, but didn’t let go. 

“Fine then,” he said. “Have it your way.” 

Five didn’t have time to think about the threat before gun fire. A dark red patch started to grow on the guy’s arm. He let go of Five cursing and dropped his weapon, to clutch his arm. Klaus was smiling. “I figured it out.” 

Five rolled his eyes and jumped behind the next guy. He took off his tie and wrapped it around the man’s neck. He used it to yank him down to the ground. The impact was hard enough for the man to loosen his hold on the gun for Five to kick away. He jumped next to Klaus who had aimed the gun towards the final man. 

“Here’s an idea, give up now or end up like the rest of your friends.” The final man looked at Klaus and Five, and then everyone else who was down for the count. He lowered the gun. “Smart choice,” Five said. Then he jumped next to the man. “I want to know who sent you.” 

“That’s confidential.” 

“Such a shame, I really don’t like hurting anyone.” He held a knife in his hand. He had no intention of using it for more than a show, but the man didn’t know that. “Names, and we might let you leave after all.” 

“Look, kid, I don’t know. I swear.” Five pressed the knife into his side. “We just get the information passed on. They wanted us to get a Number Five, said he was problem that needed to be dealt with.” That was familiar. How was it no matter what point in time he was, Five was a problem? Was it a talent? “That’s all I know.” 

His breathing was normal, his voice didn’t waiver, and his answer was concise. Five grabbed the gun and swung it to connect with his head. He stepped out of the way of the falling man and walked back to Klaus. “Come on,” Five said. “It appears I’m being hunted.” 

“Yeah, that sounds cool and all, but what the fuck?” Klaus dropped the gun and chased after Five. Five hated leaving the diner in such disarray, but someone will have called the police. Five didn’t want to deal with the questions and he doubted Klaus did either. Leaving was the only logical solution. The men were in bad enough shape they wouldn’t consider chasing after them. “Seriously, what the fuck?” Klaus grabbed onto his wrist, pulling Five to a stop. He wasn’t letting go and Five felt he owed an explanation.

“I met someone yesterday,” he said. How should he word this? I met someone who wants to end the world? I met someone who wants me to join her club? “I met someone who knew about the apocalypse and seemed pretty intent on letting it happen.” 

“Want, your end of the world thing is real?” Klaus said because of course none of them believed him. Was it so impossible to understand that maybe Five had actually travelled into the future and the world actually ended? 

“Yes, and apparently I wasn’t supposed to come home.” Five pulled on the space around them, testing to see if he could jump. The air reacted, bending around him. “I’m a risk, so they’re trying to eliminate me.” 

“I’m not high enough for this.” Five rolled his eyes. “No, seriously. This is at least an acid trip. Shit, Ben do I have any acid left? Fuck, okay, maybe it’s gonna be a chill Xanax day.” 

“If you can only think about your drug habit then I’ll someone else to help me save the world, which is ending in a week in case you’ve forgotten.” Five pulled away from Klaus. His arm burned where Klaus had been holding on. He ignored it and marched on.

“Wait, no, fuck.” Klaus fell in line beside him. “I want to help, Ben wants me to help, Diego wants me not to lose you but that’s another story, where am I going? Right, you said Armageddon is coming. How exactly are we supposed to stop that?”

“The same way we also stop things, together.” 

“We’re not exactly the Umbrella Academy anymore. Diego and Luther hate each other, I haven’t seen Allison rumor someone since…” Klaus cut himself off. “Well, that doesn’t matter, she doesn’t anymore. I’ve always been useless and Ben’s gone. No offense, Ben.” 

“We’ve always been stronger together than apart,” Five said. He stared down as they walked. “What happened?” 

“A lot of things. We couldn’t protect ourselves anymore, so we fell apart.” 

Five left. That’s what happened. He knew that because it was in Vanya’s book. The only thing that could destroy the Umbrella Academy was the Academy itself. That’s what she had said. They cared about each other too much and that relationship would blow up in their faces one day. Five had enjoyed that chapter. 

“I appreciate the help, Klaus. But I don’t need it anymore.” Five jumped back to the house. He only felt slightly bad about leaving Klaus out there on his own. He couldn’t regret it completely, not when there were people who wanted him dead. Klaus was safer on his own. 

“Five, you’re back.” 

“Hey Dolores.” He dropped onto his bed. Dolores was still leaning against the headboard where he had left her. “Eye was a bust. It doesn’t even exist yet.” 

“Oh no.” 

“Yeah. So, we’re back to square one.” In moments like these Five wished Dolores was real. He craved contact, something she couldn’t him. Sure, there were at least two siblings, one caretaker, and a robotic mother downstairs who would all be willing to let Five sit with them, maybe even against them, but Five couldn’t ask knowing that in a week they would all be gone unless he managed to do something about it. 

“Where’s Klaus?” Dolores asked. She cared too much for her own good. That’s one of the things Five loved about her. 

“I left him. Before you get mad, there was an incident. I had to leave him or I was going to keep putting him at risk.” 

“You’re saving your brother, by risking your life?” 

“What else can I do? These people who know about the apocalypse are after me. If I get help then they’re just going to be in danger too.” 

“You’re siblings are superheroes, Five. You read the book, they can’t working long after you were gone. They might be your only shot at stopping this.” 

Five hated when Dolores was right. “But they also lost.” 

“Because they didn’t have you! You’re here now, the whole academy is.” 

“Ben’s not.” 

“Ben’s with Klaus. The others might not believe it, but you do because why would Klaus lie about it?” 

“Klaus hasn’t been sober in years. Vanya said so.” Vanya had a nice long chapter dedicated to Klaus and the mess he became. There was no question why everyone hated her after the book. For a while after he first read it, he resented the way she had given up on him. Five would have never given up on her, but Five also had all the support in the world. Vanya was alone after he left and after a while he clung to her book as his ticket home. 

“It doesn’t change the fact that he can see Ben. They were always close, doesn’t it make sense that Ben would have stayed by his side after death?” 

“It makes sense, but time travel made sense too and we both saw how that turned out.” Five reached over to his desk and grabbed one of the notebooks sitting on top. Inside were his early time travel equations. He picked up a pen and turned to a blank page. 

Were there ghosts in the apocalypse? They made sense, the world did end. Billions of spirits walking the Earth. It sounded impossible but there were billions of people who are alive right now. Did spirits like the hang around where they died or did they roam? Some followed Klaus, like Ben, but were others just minor inconveniences everytime he went to the Waffle House? 

Five had found four of his six siblings, five if he counted Ben who must have been beside Klaus at the end. Had their spirits been watching over him? Cursing him for leaving? They were happy to have him back now, but they were alive. Their reunion might have been different at the end of times. Or maybe they were sad. Five disobeyed, jumped through time when he obviously wasn’t ready, and came to the end of all things. Maybe they were forced to watch as he struggled through those first few weeks until creating a routine that worked. 

He wrote down everything he remembered. Something had to be another clue as to what happened. The academy was gone, all that was left was an empty shell of the building that once housed the world’s first superheroes. Up and down the street buildings were destroyed. Nothing had survived the wrath of harbinger. He wrote about his siblings, each of them covered in the debris of some sort of concert hall. Five had stood on the stage staring out at everything that had once been something. It was a macabre moment he described in detail from the taste of the air to the scent of burning flesh. 

His pen scrapped against the paper. He pressed harder and harder. His siblings were dead. He had jumped forward hoping to find a future he could show Vanya. He never found her. Where was she? Was she alone? He held out hope that she made it out alive. She could have been anywhere in the world safe from whatever had attacked their family home. Those hopes died when he jumped back and she was with the rest of them. Vanya never left, and Five never found her. She died alone. 

“Five?”

He ignored the speaker. There were too many things to finish. He should check the book again. His calculations were in the book, his theories. He had thousands of ideas on what caused the end and hundreds of them were written between the lines of Vanya’s words. He needed to try another. 

“Five, what are you doing?” 

Maybe the Eiffel Tower theory. Except, no. That was stupid. Perhaps the Vegas theory? Or the asteroid? 

The notebook was pulled from his hands. “What the hell, Five?” 

“I need that, so if you could please give it back it would be greatly appreciated.” Allison didn’t give it back. She started reading what he had been writing. Her face twisted into something mimicking shock and horror, of course. The end of the world was gruesome. 

“What is all this?” she asked. She shut the notebook and held it to her chest with no intention of giving it back. Five sighed and grabbed a different one from the desktop. It was half-filled with early morning ramblings on whatever idea he had while sleeping. Five didn’t have time to reminisce. He started rewriting his last sentence. 

“Isn’t it obvious? It’s the end.” He wrote of the first week, highlighting the discovery of his siblings and finding on Vanya’s book. 

“Jesus Christ, this is what you saw?” 

“Yes, now are you going to give it back or not? I’m working on finding what I’m missing.” 

“No, we need to talk.” 

“I don’t have time to talk, there’s a world to save.” 

“The world can wait a moment.” It really couldn’t. “Klaus called and said the two of you were attacked.” Of course he did. Klaus was reliable, but he was also a chatterbox. “He said there’s someone after you?”

“Yes, very unfortunate incident that occurred yesterday before Diego and Klaus found me. Well, unfortunate incident before the unfortunate incident. A lot of unfortunate incidents.” 

“You always had a knack for attracting trouble, but that’s not why I’m here.” 

“Then please, do explain why you’re here.” 

“When were you going to tell us?” 

“You’ll have to be more specific. That could mean anything from the woman who’s after me to the fact that I spent a solid week in the apocalypse drunk off of stolen liquor.” 

“We can protect you,” So she was electing to ignore the confession. Good to know. “You need to let us help.” 

Five had started writing the horror of finding Allison’s body twisted and broken. “No offense, Allison, but none of you can help me.” Luther clutching the eye. Diego’s face frozen in defeat. Klaus hidden beneath the rubble. 

“Not if you don’t let us.” 

Five snapped the journal shut. “You might be former superheroes, Allison, but the four of you know nothing about teamwork, you never did. Even if I wanted help, which I don’t, I can’t trust you not to give us away.” 

“We can still work together.” Five laughed. “You’ve been gone for a long time, Five. We were still a team after you left,” 

“Were you? Because last I checked getting into a fight at a funeral isn’t something a team does.” Allison winced, so Five kept growing. “Is ostracizing a family member because they’re different something a team does? What about running away from your problems alone instead of trying to face them together? Sorry, Allison, but you can’t do anything for me.” 

He left before the inevitable lecture. He didn’t have the notebook she had taken, but he had the second, Vanya’s book, and Dolores to guide him. 

“You’d be better off with your siblings.” 

“I’d be better off if they listened to me.” He was reaching his limits. Five could feel the air constricting around him. It wasn’t like the apocalypse when he had been unable to jump, but it was getting close. He needed to stop pushing himself to the limit. “I’m going back to Meritech for a while. There was something else going on there, I know it.” 

Five and Dolores settled on the ground somewhere they would be hidden from sight. He didn’t want another repeat of the situation from yesterday. Dolores was still worried. Not that Five could blame her, there was someone after him and he had no idea who it was. “Are you sure you should be alone when there’s people after you?” 

“I’ll take the loneliness if it keeps the rest of them safe.” Five opened Extra Ordinary. His equations covered the pages. He had written anywhere there was room. “You were wrong, they don’t deserve to be dragged into this.”

 

_“When we were young, Five always talked about the possibility of time travel. He could jump between layers of space, from one room to another in a millisecond. Five always thought that if he perfected his spatial he’d be able to jump through time. We used to dream about where we would go together. I was always partial to Ancient Rome. It was far away from the life we were living. Five wanted to see the future. He was impatient. For our eleventh birthday we were given whatever we wanted to a certain extent. Five jumped all through the house, exploring each and every room in search of what we were promised. He never found our gifts and on our eleventh birthday they were presented to us. Our father reminded Five that his abilities were not a toy and he needed to control himself. I think that was the start._

_After that day, Five devoted himself to discovering just what exactly he could do. We still talked about time travel but those days it wasn’t just between us. Five had brought up his desires to explore the limits of his abilities with our father who was all too eager to not agree. Five did everything he could do to gain our father’s approval but nothing worked. No matter how many rooms his escaped, how many straight jackets he destroyed during his solo training, our father wouldn’t let him try to jump through time. Secretly, I was grateful. If Five left then I’d have no one._

_It was no secret that I was the embarrassment of the Hargreeves family. The only child born without powers I quickly found myself to be the blacksheep, isolated from the people who were supposed to love me. I don’t blame my siblings, I never blamed them. It was our father who kept us apart, but it was Five who tried to bring us together. Every week, during our free time, he would create some sort of game that the seven of us could play together. During these moments it felt like we were a real family and not something crafted by a father with crazed ideas about a threat that was never coming._

_Then it happened. Five had gradually grown more and more frustrated with our father. He was obsessed with time travel, certain that he could do it after mastering his spatial jumps. It finally became too much and he snapped. I remember the shock that came with Five interrupting the meal. We all stared, but tried not to make it obvious to avoid getting ourselves into trouble. I tried to tell him no, not to run, but when you’re forbidden from speaking in fear of losing the one thing that makes you happy you don’t say anything._

_He ran from that table never to return. Something within us broke that day. It was as though the glue holding us together finally dissolved leaving a mess of pieces that would never fit together again.”_

_Vanya Hargreeves, “Extra Ordinary: My Life as Number Seven” chapter 5._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is a few days late but I'm blaming finals   
> that being said there might not be an update next week because of finals

**Author's Note:**

> ive seen a few fics where five only spends a few years in the apocalypse and I love them so I made my own
> 
> i have a [discord](https://discord.gg/Pwah8sR), come join me in waking up at 330 am and talking about the hargreeves among others


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